Premium| Listen to this article |
NEW DELHI : Increased use of plastic waste in Iron and Steel industry can provide a long-term sustainable solution, said Union Steel Minister, Ram Chandra Prasad Singh on Friday.
The Ministry of Steel organised a meeting to deliberate the findings of the report “Plastic Waste utilization in Iron and Steel Industry" by the Steel Research and Technology Mission of India (SRTMI).
The union minister observed that most plastic waste is a source of carbon and hydrogen besides high energy in comparison to coal utilized and are free from ash, and alkaline matters. The use of plastic waste can help in reducing the dependency on imported coal, minimizing greenhouse gas emissions, improve efficiencies and address the national issue of efficient and safe disposal of plastic waste.
All types of plastics including single use plastic can find application in Iron and Steel Industry. Several countries across the globe like Japan, Europe etc are using such plastics in Steel making for quite some times.
The use of plastic by the steel industry also addresses the major environmental and social issue of generation of carcinogenic gases like Dioxin and Furans, normally encountered in systems like Incineration, energy generation, as high temperature is maintained in steel making and some of the processes are pyrolysis processes. It is expected that 1 Kg of plastic use shall replace around 1.3 Kg of coal and Iron and steel industry has the potential to consume around 2-3 million tonnes of plastic waste every year based on the present capacity and more than 8 million tonnes by 2030-31.
Minister of steel advised to take up the matter with the MoEFCC so that the steel sector is a part of the plastic waste management rules 2016 and to hold a national conference to further promote the same.
Download the App to get 14 days of unlimited access to Mint Premium absolutely free!